Building Bones

1
Keeping Your Bones Healthy
BUILDING BONES
2
Building Bones
3
What Are Bones?

• Bones fit together to make your skeleton.
• The skeleton gives the body shape and structure.
• With the help of muscles, the skeleton helps you
  move.

4
What are bones?

• It is important to keep bones strong throughout
  life.
• Building strong bones begins in childhood. Bones
  are rapidly growing at this stage in life, and
  need activity and nutrients to lay a strong
  foundation.
• Bones continue to grow, but they reach their
  strongest possible point in your 20s.

5
What are bones?

• Bone is made of
• a protein called collagen that lays a soft
  framework
• the mineral calcium phosphate that makes the bone
  hard
• other minerals
• water
• cells

6
Strong bones

• There are two main ways to make
• bones stronger
• Weight-bearing physical activity
• Eating foods with calcium
• and Vitamin D

7
What is weight-bearing physical activity?

• Weight-bearing means you are on your feet, or
  your body is working against gravity.
• The actions of these activities stimulate bones
  to make more tissue, increasing bone strength.

8
What is weight-bearing physical activity?

• Some Activities That Are Weight-bearing
• Jumping rope
• Running
• Soccer
• Dancing
• Karate
• Hiking
• Tennis

9
What is weight-bearing physical activity?

• Some Activities That Are Not
• Weight-bearing
• Biking
• Swimming
• Riding a Scooter
• Remember all physical activity is good for you,
  weight-bearing and non weight-bearing!
• Just be sure to add in some weight-bearing
  activities to your normal routine for bone health.

10
Calcium and Vitamin D

• The calcium you get from foods help strengthen
  bones.
• Vitamin D helps the body to absorb the calcium
  you eat so that it can be used.
• Vitamin D can be found in the foods you eat.
• Our body can also make Vitamin D when the skin is
  exposed to sunlight.

11
How Calcium Works

• The calcium used to harden or strengthen bone
  comes from our blood and the calcium in our blood
  comes from the foods we eat.
• Remember the protein collagen lays a soft
  framework in the bone.
• Once the collagen is laid, calcium from the blood
  fills in the framework, and makes the bone hard.

12
Calcium-rich Foods

• Low fat dairy products
• Yogurt
• Cheese
• Milk
• Items made with milk like pudding
• Foods fortified with Calcium
• Orange juice
• Soy milk
• Cereal

13
How Much Calcium

• Calcium in food is measured in milligrams.
• You can determine how much calcium you need in
  milligrams, or in servings of calcium-rich foods.
• Vitamin D is found in a lot of same foods as
  calcium such a milk.

14
How Much Calcium Each Day
This sounds like a lot, but think about how big
your skeleton is! That calcium has a lot of work
to do!
15
Calcium in Foods

• 1 cup of plain, fat-free yogurt 300 mg
• 1 ½ ounces of cheddar cheese 305 mg
• 1 cup of fat free or low fat milk 300 mg
• 6 ounces of orange juice with calcium
  200 to 250 mg (varies)
• 1 cup of a soy beverage with added calcium
  about 300 mg (varies)
• 1 ounce of mozzarella cheese 207 mg
• ½ cup pudding made with milk 147 to 160 mg
• 1 slice of cheese pizza 100 mg

16
Healthy Bones and Teeth

• Some of the things we need to do for strong bones
  helps us to have healthy teeth and gums (oral
  health) too.
• A balanced diet is important for good oral
  health.
• An excellent source of information for a healthy
  diet can be found at www.mypyramid.gov .
• Lack of calcium in our diet might be related to
  problems with oral health such as gum disease and
  tooth loss.

17
Oral Health

• Be sure to go to the dentist regularly.
• Your dentist can give you all the information you
  need for good oral health.

18
So what if I dont have strong bones?

• The calcium you eat, and physical activity you
  do, now, can keep your bones healthy and strong
  for the future.
• When there isnt enough calcium in your blood to
  help build bones your bones begin to lose
  minerals.
• This can lead to weak bones that break easily
  when you are older.
• Strong bones can keep you healthy and active
  throughout your lifetime!

19
So what do you know about building bones?

• True or False?
• Running is a weight-bearing activity.
• Riding a bike is a weight-bearing activity.
• Doing weight-bearing activity and eating
  calcium-rich foods are two ways you can build
  strong bones.
• Youth aged 9 to 18 need about 500mg of calcium
  each day.
• Milk yogurt and cheese are good sources of
  calcium.

20

• Sources
• American Dental Association, http//www.ada.org/pu
  blic/media/releases/0210_release08.asp
• American Dietetic Association http//www.eatright
  .org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_1743_ENU_HTM
  L.htm
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention
  http//www.cdc.gov/brfss http//www.cdc.gov/nhane
  s
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention The
  National Bone Health Campaign Powerful Bones.
  Powerful Girls.
• Bone Up Hard Facts, Bone Up How to Make
  Strong Bones, Staying Strong Fitness Fun,
  Staying Strong Calcium-Where To Get It available
  online at http//www.cdc.gov/powerfulbones.
• National Institutes of Health National Institute
  of Child Health Human Development Why Milk
  Matters Now for Children and Teens, available at
  http//www.nichd.nih.gov/milk/milk_facts.htm.
• United States Department of Health and Human
  Services, Bone Health and Osteoporosis A Report
  of the Surgeon General (2004) available online
  athttp//www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/boneheal
  th/content.html

This presentation adapted with permission from
the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension
HEEL Program, Get Moving Kentucky!
Youth Health Lesson Series